Hyne's SeeD
by Cat Megex
Summary: Five years after the events of FFVIII, two girls from Balamb Garden set off on a journey of discovery.
1. Introduction

Hi, Cat Megex here. This is my first fanfiction, so I hope it's enjoyed. Just as a warning, I haven't finished FF8 yet, so some of the details may be wrong. I'll try to finish the game as soon as I can.

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Five years have passed since the young SeeD Squall, along with his companions, defeated the sorceress Ultimecia. Life at Balamb Garden slowly returned to normal, with some differences, the most notable being Garden's ability to move. Quistis was reinstated as an instructor, thanks to a petition by the Trepies, while Squall was asked by Headmaster Cid to instruct those students who wished to use a gunblade in its use. Zell, Selphie, and Irvine settled down into life as normal SeeDs, though they held quite a reputation among the rest. As for Rinoa, she became Doctor Kadowaki's assistant and was allowed to stay at Garden.

Although gunblades are not commonly used, Squall did have several students. One of the best was a girl named Shera Lisind. She was almost as good as Squall was when he became a SeeD, despite being only 15 years old. She was also skilled in the use of kamas and throwing knives, and could use them to great effect.

Shera's best friend was another girl, whose name was Marecia Katari. They were the same age, and had been friends since the two of them had come to Garden. This is the story of their journey, and of a young Ultimecia.


	2. Chapter One: Training in the Cold

Here's the first chapter of Hyne's SeeD! Now RoseSama35 doesn't have to try to read the story at lunch while everyone's running around swatting bees!

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Rosy rays of light peeked over the horizon as Balamb Garden skimmed the waves of the northern ocean. The air was frigid, and a layer of frost covered the outdoor training grounds. Unfortunately for his pupils, Squall Leonhart NEVER canceled his training sessions, which was why five students stood shivering in the morning light. Facing them was Squall, who held his gunblade loosely at his side.

"All right," he began, "I want each of you to perform the routine I gave you." Squall looked at a lanky 17-year-old boy, and addressed him: "Marcus, you go first."

Marcus stepped forward, swaggering slightly. His gunblade had a golden blade, but was otherwise identical to a revolver model. He brushed his long brown bangs away from his blue eyes, and planted his feet, gunblade held out in the ready position. With a burst of speed, Marcus began his routine. Slashing at an imaginary enemy, he awed the other students with his speed. However, Shera's dark gray eyes showed no sign of admiration: she was too busy cataloguing his mistakes. And so, it seemed, was Squall.

"Although you followed the routine, your moves were too flashy," Squall told Marcus when he had finished.

"What!" Marcus exclaimed. He started to say more, but Squall silenced him with a stare.

"There were several points during the routine in which you needlessly left yourself open to attack,' the instructor continued, "and your attacks were quite sloppy. This may be just a training session, but you'll eventually be on a battlefield. Out there, sloppy doesn't cut it."

Marcus looked quite depressed as he walked back to the group, and Shera couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He wasn't really a bad guy; he just had a bit of an ego.

Her attention turned to the next student to be called on, a twelve-year-old girl who seemed very fidgety. The girl tripped halfway through her routine, and Squall sighed. The rest of the students except for Shera giggled; she just rolled her eyes. The twelve-year-old got up, face crimson with embarrassment, and joined the other students.

"Shera, it's your turn," Squall said. As Shera stepped forward, she tried to smile, but couldn't. Frozen grass crunched underfoot as she walked over in front of Squall. From her pocket she took a pair of black cut-off gloves. She slipped them on, tightened the wrist straps, and unsheathed her gunblade. It was unusual, in that the blade was thinner than that of most gunblades. Also, it had a slight S-curve on the sharp edge, and was narrower in the middle than at the base or the tip.

Light glinted off the black blade as Shera stopped in front of Squall, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"Shall I begin?"

"Go right ahead," was Squall's response.

Shera turned to face an empty area, visualizing an imaginary opponent. Her eyes narrowed, she lunged forward. The lunge turned into a spin, followed by a series of rapid strikes. As Shera continued to fight her imaginary foe, all other thoughts left her mind; her focus was solely on her routine. Finally she came to the finish; a sharp downwards strike, from upper-left to lower-right, and she was done.

A few strands of shoulder-length, fiery red hair hung down over Shera's face, which she brushed back behind one ear as she straightened and sheathed her gunblade.

Squall nodded. "Good." Shera walked back to the group, its members looking at her with collective amazement. All except for Marcus. Shera could not read the expression on his face, but when she reached a spot adjacent to him, he merely said, "Wow." Shera smiled. "Thanks." She turned around to watch the next student, a 16-year-old boy, perform his routine.

As she watched, Shera checked to make sure her necklace, a small, burnished blue metallic sphere on a fine chain, was still tucked safely under her shirt. That necklace was very special to her, because it had belonged to her mother, and was in fact the only thing Shera had left of her parents. She didn't know what she would do if something happened to it. These thoughts led her to think about what might have been, maybe…. Marcus, noticing Shera's wistful expression, asked, "Are you all right, Shera?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, I'm fine," she replied, mind no longer dwelling on the past. The last student then walked to the front as the fourth walked back to the group with an average score. She performed her routine, and also got an average score.

"That is all for today. I'll give you new routines this evening in the indoor training center," Squall told his pupils. "Be there no later than six o'clock, and come prepared to fight."

The five students went off in their own directions; Shera walked over to the metal railing, wiping off her gloves, then taking them off and putting them in a pocket. When she reached the railing, she leaned on it and stared out at a tiny piece of land off on the horizon. The sun was at her back, and the temperature slowly began to rise as it lazily rose further up in the sky. _I wonder how Mar's namaretsu session is going._

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_That was the first chapter of Hyne's SeeD. To anyone who reads this, I would greatly appreciate some info on how I can improve my writing. Expect to see the second chapter of Hyne's SeeD soon! 


	3. Chapter Two: Namaretsu

I apologize for not posting earlier, but I didn't finish this chapter until recently (today, in fact). Anyway, here's chapter two, ready to be read.

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Namaretsu: a form of martial arts characterized by graceful, dancelike movements and lightning-fast, deadly attacks. Although pressure points are important to all forms of unarmed combat, they hold an even greater role in namaretsu techniques. Students of namaretsu at Balamb Garden are taught not only about human pressure points, but those of other creatures as well. Because of this fact, Marecia Katari was not surprised to find that she would be learning about the pressure points of a caterchipillar in the day's lesson.

Her pale complexion sharply contrasted with the straight, jet-black hair that reached down to her waist; slightly slanted black eyes and a long-sleeved black gi completed the ensemble.

Marecia split her attention between the sensei, who was busy pointing out specific spots on a paralyzed caterchipillar, and a strip of black leather about one inch wide, with large metal studs placed along its length. She was holding it in one hand; her other hand held a small tool, with which she was making small adjustments to the strip. After a moment, she nodded and put the tool away in a pocket somewhere on her gi. Then she wrapped the strip of leather around her right wrist and secured a latch; immediately after, the sensei called on her to identify the five most effective pressure points on a caterchipillar. Mar stood up and walked to the front of the classroom; on her left wrist could be seen a piece of leather identical to the one on her right. When she reached the front, she pointed out the requested pressure points, naming them as she did so. "One pressure point is here, at the connection of the brain and main dorsal nerve. The use of this pressure point will paralyze a caterchipillar for up to an hour; slightly more force causes instant death." Mar pointed out four more pressure points and explained them, then sat back down.

"Very good," said the sensei. "Now, you're all going to spar with a caterchipillar. These aren't powerful specimens, so you don't have to worry about getting badly wounded. However, they're not defenseless, so don't think they can't hurt you." He turned and exited through one of the doors in the room (there were two). Muffled chattering began while the sensei was out, and ceased when he came back in, pulling a large cart piled high with paralyzed caterchipillars.

"I don't want to see any of you using para-magic; that includes drawing as well as casting. This is meant as a test of your namaretsu abilities, not your ability to use para-magic." Several students sighed, but the sensei ignored them. He motioned for the class to move to the walls, and then arranged the motionless bugs (seven in all) around the room.

"You will be arranged in groups of two. One last thing: don't kill the caterchipillars, just disable them." The sensei put his students in groups and had each group move to a caterchipillar. When everyone was in position, the sensei went around, casting Esuna on each caterchipillar as he came by. As each caterchipillar became mobile, they took a moment to regain their bearings and then attacked.

Marecia's partner was a boy about her age, named Karl. Although slightly clumsy, he wasn't all that bad at martial arts. As their caterchipillar charged, they both assumed defensive stances, ready for the attack. Marecia ducked down, then rolled backwards as the brightly colored creature rushed over her; before it could react, she pushed up and back with her legs, throwing the caterchipillar towards Karl, who lashed out with a spinning kick. The kick connected, and the caterchipillar uttered a shrill cry as it crashed to the ground. It wasn't out yet, though.

As Marecia flipped backwards to a standing position, the creature righted itself and leaped at her. She let it hit her, then reached around and pressed the spot she had pointed out just a few minutes before. The caterchipillar collapsed, limp, but still alive.

"Very good, you two," said the sensei as he walked over, staying a safe distance away from the groups that were still fighting. A few other groups had also disabled their caterchipillars by then, but the majority of the class hadn't.

The sensei picked up Marecia and Karl's caterchipillar and took it to the back room, as he had with the other finished groups'. While he was doing this, Marecia and Karl went and sat down against a wall to watch the remaining groups finish up.

After about ten minutes, the last of the groups finally defeated their caterchipillar. The sensei took it to the back room, came out, and closed the door. Then he looked at a clock hanging above the other door.

"All right, that's enough for this lesson," he said. "Class dismissed."

The students got up and filed out the door into a corridor of Balamb Garden. The students who hadn't eaten yet headed towards the cafeteria, hoping there were hotdogs left, while those who had eaten before class went off to do their own thing. Marecia was one of those who had woken up early enough to eat breakfast before, so she made a visit to the dorm room she shared with Shera. There she changed clothes, putting on a gray sweatsuit. She sighed when she caught sight of the room's dirty laundry basket: it was overflowing with dirty clothes.

"Shera forgot the laundry again," Marecia said to herself as she dropped her gi on top of the pile. "It would probably be easier if I just washed all of it myself, but…" she sighed again, and looked at Shera's side of the room. Things were scattered everywhere in that area: books on the floor, bed unmade, clothing hanging from a chair…in short, it was a mess. In comparison, Marecia's side was every parent's dream: clothes neatly put away, bed made, things properly organized on shelves and in drawers.

"I guess it's just her nature," Marecia said after a moment. She got up and exited, closing the door behind her.

Shera and Marecia shared a living room with five other pairs of students; luckily, their schedules tended to be different enough so that no more than five people were in it at once. At the moment there were only two, Marcus and his roommate Zack. They were playing a game of Triple Triad, and at the moment, Marcus seemed to be winning.

"All right, my Ifrit flips one of your Bite Bugs, so I have three cards and you have one. Just a few more turns and this game will be – oh, hi Marecia."

"Hello, Marcus," she replied. Marcus noticed her clothes and gave a warning.

"It's really cold today. I wouldn't be out running if I were you." Marecia's reply was matter-of-fact. "I like the cold." She began walking towards the door, then paused and turned back towards Marcus. "If you see Shera, could you remind her that it's her turn to do the laundry?"

"Sure," said Marcus. Marecia exited, and he went back to his game. Unfortunately for him, Zack had just played a card that flipped Marcus's three, putting the score at five to zero.

"Dammit!"


End file.
